Postwar Birmingham

Air-raids, mostly in the winter 1940-1, destroyed 480 privately-owned houses and 436 council houses. 127,000 houses, about half the total in the city, suffered major or minor damage but were repairable. There was much damage by bomb and fire to factories; and the City centre suffered - most notably the Market Hall was gutted, the Council House bridge and extension were damaged, the Prince of Wales Theatre, St. Thomas's Church and the east end of New Street were
practically demolished. This area when cleared became known as the Big Top site because a huge circus marquee was
erected there to house wartime exhibitions.

To meet the immediate shortage of houses, prefabricated houses were sited on cleared sites, waste land, and park edges. Expected to last 10 years, nearly all of them lasted for 20, and many still stand. Traditional brick, slate, and tile, used for the earliest postwar buildings, gradually gave way on council estates to concrete and plastic, steel and glass as taller and yet taller tower blocks of flats became accepted if not popular.

The Town Planning Act of 1947 required the production of a 20-year development plan: Birmingham's was published in '52. It covered the whole City, for the Act gave the Council power over rebuilding, new building, allocation of land for every purpose, provision of all facilities and amenities, including transport and communications. Had Birmingham not already lost its gas and electricity to national and regional authorities, this would have marked the zenith of the Council's power.